The Independent Inquiry into White Working Class Educational Outcomes has found that generational reforms are needed to fix the education system, as it is increasingly leaving white, working-class children behind and not serving their interests.
Set up last summer, the BBC outlines the independent inquiry wanted to discover why white, working-class children were the lowest-performing large demographic in England's school system. The inquiry's co-chair Baroness Estelle Morris said that this isn't the fault of schools alone, but it has been outlined by education secretary Bridget Phillipson that generations had been "robbed of opportunity."
The inquiry found that just 48% of white working-class children reach a good level of development by age five, while 75% of other children achieve the same that aren't on free school meals. 36% of white working-class pupils earn a Grade 4 or above in their English and Maths GCSE, compared to 72% of all pupils not on free school meals.
It was also discovered that white working-class families increasingly believe the education system does not guarantee future success. To remedy this, the inquiry makes 24 recommendations, including free access to local public transport for all young people up to the age of 21, extending 30 hours of free childcare to all disadvantaged families, and a major expansion of apprenticeships.